I’m a big fan of the free food waste-saving app Too Good To Go, and have rescued several ‘magic bags’ over the last few years. Generally, they’re very good, such as the £18 worth of goods I bagged for £3.09 in Morrisons.
I’ve also saved a Toby Carvery roast dinner from being binned, and got £8 worth of Greggs for £2.59.
On one occasion, I practically hit the jackpot when I bought a magic bag from Millie’s Cookies for £4, and got 16 of their delicious bakes.
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But this week, I decided to get a Too Good To Go bag from Costa, and felt like I’d massively wasted my money, time, and precious petrol.
For those who have never heard of Too Good To Go, it’s a free-to-download app. and uses your location services to find venues near you who are partnered with it.
Retailers upload a limited number of ‘magic bags’ each day, which are available at a hugely discounted price - with shoppers saving up to 70 per cent on their purchases.
The boxes and bags do sell out quickly, so you will find yourself having to refresh the app throughout the day to see what's available nearby. But when you can get your hands on one, it’s usually a real bargain worth well over what you paid.
Which brings me to my Costa purchase. This week I reserved a magic bag from Costa for just £3, with the app suggesting it would include approximately £10 worth of ‘food-to-go from the Costa Coffee and/or M&S menus, such as fresh salads, buttery pastries, flavour-packed sandwiches or tempting cakes’.
I drove the six and a half miles from my house to collect my mystery bag at 8pm, and happened to already be a bit miffed about the solo barista having me wait for 10 minutes while she took Drive Thru orders. Though I appreciate she appeared to be on shift alone.
When I was served, the member of staff headed into the back to grab my order, but when she came back, I thought there was some kind of mistake. The bag seemed very small in comparison to the bags I’d received at Millie’s Cookies, Toby Carvery, Morrisons and even Greggs.
Opening the bag at home I was filled with disappointment at the sad-looking contents. Inside were just three items, which is the fewest I’ve ever seen included in a bag.
Undeterred, however, I continued to unpack to have a good look at the goods.
In my Costa Too Good To Go bag was a vegan Macaroni Cheeze, and two M&S children’s taste buds cheesy pizzas.
The vegan mac and cheeze looked extremely unappetizing, and had solidified in the box, with no parsley crumb in sight. It had the same day’s ‘use by’ date on it, so really needed eating that night. Due to it being quite late, it wasn’t something I was going to eat, so I gave it to my partner’s mum, who is a vegan.
Both pizzas also had a use by date of the same day, but credit where it’s due, these are great for kids or as a quick snack.
But my main issue comes from the fact that these pizzas cost £1.05 each at M&S, with the macaroni cheeze retailing at £4. As all of them were nearly out of date, they’d have been reduced in store too. Having paid £3 for approximately £6.10 worth of products, I was pretty disappointed in this box.
Too Good To Go is a bit of a lottery, but you tend to win more than you lose. This time, it was a spectacular failure. Though I’ll add none of the food went to waste and was eaten by friends and family. Better luck next bag, I guess - but I won’t be rushing to reserve from Costa.
